TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

1988

Avianca Flight 410, a Boeing 727, crashed after takeoff into a mountain in Colombia, killing all 143 people on board.

1762

New York held its first St. Patrick’s Day parade.

1776

The Revolutionary War Siege of Boston ended as British forces evacuated the city.

1912

The Camp Fire Girls organization was incorporated in Washington, D.C., two years to the day after it was founded in Thetford, Vermont.

1958

The U.S. Navy launched the Vanguard 1 satellite.

1959

The Dalai Lama fled Tibet for India in the wake of a failed uprising by Tibetans against Chinese rule.

1969

Golda Meir became prime minister of Israel.

1970

The United States cast its first veto in the U.N. Security Council, killing a resolution that would have condemned Britain for failing to use force to overthrow the white-ruled government of Rhodesia.

1973

U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Robert L. Stirm, a freed prisoner of the Vietnam War, was joyously greeted by his family at Travis Air Force Base in California in a scene captured in a Pulitzer Prizewinning AP photograph.

2005

Baseball players told Congress that steroids were a problem in the sport; stars Rafael Palmeiro and Sammy Sosa testified they hadn’t used them while Mark Mcgwire refused to say whether he had.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

The former national chairwoman of the NAACP, Myrlie Evers-williams, is 87. Former astronaut Ken Mattingly is 84. Actor Patrick Duffy is 71. Actor Kurt Russell is 69. Actor Gary Sinise is 65. Former basketball and baseball player Danny Ainge is 61. Actor Rob Lowe is 56. Rock singer Billy Corgan is 53. Olympic gold medal soccer player Mia Hamm is

48. Actress Natalie Zea is

45. Actress Brittany Daniel is 44. Olympic gold medal swimmer Katie Ledecky is

23.